The Matrix Online

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WBIE shows off the upcoming fanzine to be published by DC Comics.

By Steve Butts

Games based on comic books are pretty common but you don't often see it happen the other way around. Such is the case with The Official Magazine of The Matrix Online. The new fanzine, produced by Warner Brothers and DC Comics, is due out this February and will showcase all kinds of content from the upcoming persistent world game, The Matrix Online. The game promises to provide lots of potential for players to direct and shape the story and those events will be featured in a variety of ways in the soon-to-be-published magazine.

Warner Brothers' Jason Hall was kind enough to answer our questions about this new fanzine. To give us a better idea of what the magazine will look like, he also sent along a scan of the cover and one of the content pages.

IGN: So this is kind of a new thing for the industry. Why don't you lay out the basic concepts behind the new fanzine.

Jason Hall: Essentially, the fanzine is really all about the users, the players of The Matrix Online, and the events that transpire within the Matrix and the exploits and adventures they've done. One of the things that we know about online games is that the interaction and the communication and community things happen inside of these games but it's never really captured outside of some forum discussions on websites. We've basically partnered with DC Comics to create an official fanzine. It's a magazine that's comic book size.

Think of it like Maxim magazine or People magazine for The Matrix Online. Users that accomplish great things in the game will be featured and interviewed and can actually earn their way into an official Matrix history and mythology. It's a real way for the time investment people are making to be recognized by people who aren't even playing the game.

IGN: And do you imagine that you'll merely use the in-game events as an inspiration or are you planning to stick very close to the way events play out in the game?

Jason Hall: We'll stick close. The whole point of it is to treat the users as if what they're doing is very real and counts and matters within the Matrix universe. We're not trying to create some sort of marketing pamphlet. I've seen those comics go with some of those online games. This is really cool. When you're playing The Matrix Online and get involved in a scenario that winds up having you and your team of people battling who knows how many agents, that gets captured. People take pictures of that and that shows up in the fanzine. "On this day and date, this is what happened... here's what went down..." In the fiction of the Matrix it's treated as reality. It's like the CNN of The Matrix Online.

Since it's in print and DC Comics is handling it, it feels very real and legitimate. It's a collectible thing. For the most part, MMOs only have online community sites to capture that. The problem with that is that it's very difficult for an outsider to jump into that community board and jump in and recognize what's going on or what's important. This fanzine will extend beyond the players of the game in terms of distribution.

IGN: And what's the presentation like? You mentioned taking screenshots. Is there a text description of the action as well?

Jason Hall: You know how a magazine like People or Maxim have varying kinds of articles in them? We follow a similar format. Right up in front of the fanzine are featured users that have accomplished stuff. Those users who have accomplished things will go on photo shoots with their in-game character. The people who create the fanzine will do photo shoots of the characters doing various things -- striking poses, that kind of stuff. It'll take about what that character is all about though an interview. They'll talk about what their accomplishments have been and what they did in the Matrix that wound up making them a featured user. It will also discuss what their agenda is. (In the Matrix there are three different factions.)

The Matrix Online is a completely story-driven MMO so the story continually rolls forward. It's not like EverQuest or World of Warcraft where everything is completely individualized from a story standpoint and nothing really moves. There's no point to playing World of Warcraft. The world isn't going anywhere per se; you're just sort of adventuring in a fantasy world. The Matrix Online is a rolling, continuing story that's going forward. The users are moving it forward and the entire story movement is captured not only by the in-game newspaper and the monthly cinematics but also by the fanzine. It captures different aspects of it.